The competition to design America’s Next Generation Interceptor is on – and Huntsville will play a key role in the new generation of missile defense.

The same week North Korea launched a public display of ballistic missile tests, the Missile Defense Agency awarded $7.6 billion in contract money to Northrop Grumman (partnering with Raytheon) and Lockheed Martin to modernize the aging ground-based interceptors. This new technology will serve as the first layer of defense if intercontinental missiles are fired at the United States.

The companies said they will base the project headquarters in Huntsville.

Lockheed Martin will receive $3.693 billion, and Northrop Grumman will collect the remaining $3.932 billion. The funding for the contract will allow for as much as $1.6 billion in funding through the fiscal year 2022. A team led by Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne was not awarded a contract.

When discussing Huntsville, Northrop Grumman Vice President Terry Feehan said the city will serve as its headquarters with other operations in Arizona and Utah. Lockheed Martin’s headquarters for the new technology will also be in Huntsville.

“Huntsville is the nation’s home for missile defense, hosting not only the preponderance of the MDA but also each of the interceptor contractor providers,” he said. “This community knows the criticality of the mission – to defend out nation and its deployed forces. This is, absolutely, the right place for our new home.”

The next-generation program is the result of the first assessment of the homeland defense system since 2004 when current operations began. The new ballistic missiles will be feature conventional weapons propelled by rockets but will also be able to intercept other incoming weapons.

“We are excited and proud the MDA entrusted Lockheed Martin to lead the development of this game-changing system that will greatly improve our nation’s security for decades to come,” said Sarah Reeves, vice president of Next Generation Interceptor Program at Lockheed Martin. “We have been working toward supporting never-fail missions such as NGI for decades, and our team has the expertise and shared vision required to deliver on the MDA’s need to evolve GMD.”

The NGI will emphasize long-term engineering in favor of the current Ground-Based-Interceptors which was developed and fielded in just two years from 2002 to 2004. The Missile Defense Agency anticipates the NGI will not be fully operational until 2028.

MDA Director Adm. Jon Hill said in a press release that the competition between the two will be beneficial.

“By planning to carry two vendors through technology development, MDA will maximize the befits of competition to deliver the most effective and reliable homeland defense missile as soon as possible,” he said. “Once fielded, this new homeland defense interceptor will be capable of defeating expected threat advances into the 2030s and beyond.”